One-on-One With Marshall Moses

Robert Allen

12/09/2010

Fresh off his record-setting performance in OSU's 71-54 win over Tulsa, Marshall Moses spoke with Go Pokes. Moses went 12-for-12 from the field, 6-for-7 from the free throw line, and made his only three-point range attempt. In scoring 31 points Moses became the first Cowboy to have back-to-back 30-point plus outings since Bryant "Big Country" Reeves, who was in attendance in Tulsa for the game.

GP: Last night on the radio postgame your first comment was extremely mature. You said you pray for humility during this run of success you are having and you said it is working for you.
Moses: Thanks for the compliment. That is really what I have been doing. My dad has been telling me that my whole life and I am just starting to see the beginnings of what happens when you mix hard work with believing in God and staying humble.

GP: You can only celebrate good times and good games over a short period of time. I'm going to guess the bus ride home from Tulsa was a lot of fun.
Moses: It was fun. I sit next to Keiton (Page), and Markell (Brown) right behind us, and Nick (Sidorakis) and Darrell (Williams) sits right in front of me. Those guys are all characters, believe it or not, even Keiton. We had a lot of fun and laughs but we talked as we got closer back to Stillwater that it was time to prepare for Missouri State. Getting a good win in Tulsa at the BOK Center was fun. We had fun and we made history but it is over now and we have a really, really good team coming in Saturday and we need to prepare and be ready for them.

GP: I thought two real keys to this team improving, along with your efforts, were as a team hitting more free throws. Hitting 80 percent was great and keeping the turnovers down, just 10 turnovers.
Moses: Those are the things that matter when the Big 12 and the money is on the line as coach likes to say, those are the things that matter. Few turnovers and making free throws, they are trying to give you points there and you have to make them. Coach has really put an emphasis on that. Defense too, that is really what we are basing our identity on and I thought we did a good job defensively.

GP: We saw you one time at the free throw line in the second half and you were looking at the camera before shooting your free throw smiling. You were having fun and it looked like this whole team was having fun. That's important, isn't it?
Moses: I think we did have a lot of fun. The mood of the team was different just from warm-ups to the time we played. That guy right there, Markell, he just walked out, he had a lot to do with us in warm-ups. I had never seen him like that, he was pumping guys up. Guys that didn't look ready to play he was pushing them around and saying 'C'mon, we've got a game tonight.' I don't think he knows it but it got me ready to play and fired up.

GP: What was that like to be perfect on the floor, going 12-for-12? What is going through your mind?
Moses: I knew I was making some shots but I didn't know that I hadn't missed. I learned something new about the rules last night. Not a new rule, but I didn't know that if you are fouled and you miss a shot that it doesn't count toward your numbers. I didn't know that. I had missed some shot that I thought I could have got an and one on. I had no idea that I was 12-for-12 until the end of the game and everybody was making a big deal about it. You know Tulsa was a good team and when I had an opportunity to score I was just trying to make the best of it.